speedo and tranny lurch in a lovely dance to the tempo of a chocking carb

[voxecho]

hiya all. i have an 81 civic with about 205,000 miles on it. it's been gradually declining in drivability over the last 8 months or so but i have lived with it and pushed on up until now.

it's a beater car, and serves as my 100 mile a day commuter, December 04' it developed a disliking for 5th gear and decided to dispose of it. i was told that this was because i let the gear oil go down too much. this was news to me as i never even realized there was a gear oil. hmmmMMm something daddy never taught me.

well, a year later (and 30K miles) with only 4 gears - the carb began to act like it was choking out whenever i applied the gas more then |____| far :\ (roughly from 1/4 of the way down to the floor is a dead zone) which understandably, killed my acceleration, but did wonders for my mileage .. i didn't worry too much about it as i am in Nebraska and there are only 3 hills in my 50 mile drive so i didn't need a lot of power.

so now to today. on my way to work i began to hear random whining noises that sounds a lot like the sound of tires on annoying concrete interstate highways (you know that high pitch WEEEEEEE!) i ignored it thinking my tires we're in need of changing, but then i noticed that my speedo was jumping 55,60,55,60... and every time it jumped up, i felt a lurch through the gear shift and the sound stopped.

by the time i got to work (this started at about 15 or 50 miles) it was jumping from 35,45,34,45 even though i was still keeping up with traffic at 60. the lurching is more pronounced but i didn't have any noticeable loss of power.

what i did so far:
all my levels are good. i crawled under the car over lunch and opened the gear box, and got oiled for my trouble. the motor oil is good, and there where no smells that couldn't be accounted for - though i had a scare when the smell of my car on fire caught my nose and i realized my smoke had fallen out of the ashtray onto the carpet. -

i am at a loss, i rather like this little beastie and don't want to throw it away (though that's exactly what i bought it for) any ideas on the major (and ideas on the dead zone too would be great) issue would be GREAT!??

TIA - Echo

[cvcc_wagon]

well you're experience everything that i have in a different order. i had the throttle thing, then the 5th gear thing then the speedo thing.

the throttle thing for me was the hose going from the front to the air cleaner cover, it had been duct taped so many times that id was about an inch. removed that completely and the problem went away. soon after i took the lid and cut the outer lip off so that the only part that was covered was the center of the filter, i ran it year round like that but it did mean that i had to keep my foot on the gas in the winter as the heat riser will do nothing. that improved acceleration as well.

your 5th gear is gone, there is no way to get it back. that happened to me in Saskatchewan, i live in Vancouver and ended up having to drive home in 4th gear (some 950 miles and much of it across the Rockies) what you were told regarding the reason is correct. i hope you have added fluid since because if you havent then the bearings around the drive shafts will go as well and that means that the entire tranny will be hooped.

with the speedo it sounds like the cable has slipped out of it's socket probably on the tranny side. there is a little c-clip that holds it in place that may have come loose. give it a tug, if it slides out freely the clip has come loose. the other possibility is that the cable is kinked or the grease inside has gotten thick and sticky, if that's the case it will probably break soon and need replacing soon anyway. any cable from an older honda will work, just make sure that it's long enough.

[voxecho]

well i've tried driving it without the hose that you mentioned and there is no noticable improvement, but i will try that again...

i was told by a local tranny guy, replacing 5th gear is very simple, and could be done for $80. but this was only a few weeks ago, and since i was having so many other problems, i descided not to do it.

why would the speedo cable slipping (which is what i figure it is too) cause my gear shift to jump?

... Update. still not happy with me not allowing it to die in it's sleep, my beasty has added to my issues. Aside from some new noises, [whinings, clangings, and other lovely sounds to make the driver feel safe and sound in their vehical] it is now popping out of 2nd gear (though i can manually keep it in gear by holding the shifter) AND i swear 3rd gear has moved over on the tree by at least an inch toward [the late] 5th gear position.

are we there yet?